WHEN works in the space where women’s lives, environmental issues and human health intersect. We envision a world where every person is able to live free of exposure to environmental toxics.
Unfortunately the proposal to allow jets at the Toronto Island airport is instead the most ludicrous aggravation of this aspiration of all living things.
Just in terms of pollutants alone, jet fuel exhaustis a toxic soup of chemicals associated with disruptions in blood hormone levels, reproductive abnormalities in pregnant women and lower IQ scores in children, increased rates of lung diseases, heart disease, cancer and sudden death. The high levels released in jet fuel exhaust of these chemicals is associated with high rates of all the health problems above.
The water quality would severely deteriorate and the noise pollution increase. Where would the pleasure of Centre Island, the serenity of Hanlan’s Point, or Ward’s Island, of the Leslie Spit be amidst this?
The Islands are home to a variety of life-giving species that are a bound to our health and involvement with the planet. What absurdity to bring a jet airliner operation into the thick of it. “It” being in turn in the thick of a large heavily populated city waterfront.
We say “no” to jets on Toronto’s waterfront. Please stop this proposal in its tracks. It is dangerous and unhealthy.
Statement of the WHEN Board of Directors, passed on December 15, 2013.